Health care providers commonly label medical objects such as charts, medical devices, and medication containers associated with a particular patient to ensure that the patient receives their intended medical care. However, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires health care providers to hide a patient's identity before disposing of any medical objects associated with the patient.
Patient identification is commonly accomplished by attaching a one-piece label having an adhesive lower surface adapted to adhere to a medical object and an upper surface for displaying indicia such as a patient's name, social security number, or a barcode. At the conclusion of a medical treatment, i.e. when a labeled medical container such as an intravenous (IV) bag is emptied, the label must be adequately destroyed to make the indicia printed thereon illegible. This requires a health care provider to tear away or adequately cross out the indicia printed on the label to protect a patient's identity before disposing of the medical object.